Deadly pursuit

Tobias Menzies and Anthony Boyle star in the true story of the hunt for Abraham Lincoln’s killer

On the evening of 14 April 1865, John Wilkes Booth slipped into the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC and shot Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head as he watched a play with his wife.

It was an event that changed the course of US history, but it’s only the beginning of the story in Apple TV+’s seven-part thriller Manhunt, based on the 2006 bestseller by historian James L. Swanson.

In the first episode, the American Civil War has ended after four bloody years when white supremacist actor Booth (Anthony Boyle) assassinates the President in the hope of inspiring the country’s southern states to rise again.

As Booth flees south towards Virginia with co-conspirator David Herold

 (Will Harrison), Lincoln’s close friend and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton takes charge of the manhunt to catch the killer.